Our Risk Mitigation practice specializes in advising, planning, and implementing solutions for our clients to assist in mitigating operational, compliance, and regulatory risk..

Risk Management
With the impending global deployment of new regulations, Westwater is assisting a wide range of clients in implementing solutions to mitigate operational risks.

Compliance
Recent regulations have made it increasingly complicated for financial services companies to conduct business. The risks of noncompliance are growing more costly:reputations are affected, consumer confidence is shaken, and revenues are jeopardized.We at Westwater work to ensure that clients meet their regulatory requirements.

Case Study: A major broker/dealer experienced significant difficulties in reporting required Order Audit Trail System (OATS) data to the National Association of Security Dealers (NASD). The client had no centralized reporting platform, relied on individual desks to determine their OATS requirements, and failed to report properly. As a result, one of their trading desks was shut down due to inaccurate OATS reporting.In response, Westwater developed a strategic OATS reporting system and built a user interface which enabled compliance officers to review order/execution data, investigate, and re-submit OATS rejections.

Case Study: A large global investment bank had difficulty tracking all of its Counterparty data. The client attempted to develop an internal solution but failed to get an integrated view of the firm’s counterparty risk. This resulted in several compliance and regulatory concerns as well as potential lost business opportunities. Westwater developed an integrated “Counterparty Risk Management” portal which included a complete corporate hierarchy and related financial information.The solution leveraged both J2EE and .NET architecture principles.

Westwater has worked with several clients in designing and implementing new operating models to create more efficient, streamlined, and cost effective functional organizations.Our objective is to conceptualize and operationalize more efficient and effective environments for our clients. These initiatives are accomplished through both process and technology improvements.

Advanced Technology Services
Over time, complex real-world IT environments can develop inefficiencies as they integrate new technologies and evolve with changing business requirements.These often result in increased support costs and may introduce technical vulnerabilities.Westwater has the expertise to make recommendations and implement the changes required to improve the cost-efficiency and reliability of IT infrastructure.

Custom Solution Development
Westwater helps clients extend the capabilities of existing systems or create new business solutions to enhance productivity and profitability. Our application development process starts with a thorough analysis of client requirements to ensure consistent,timely, and high-quality delivery.

Our application development teams deliver in all major development standards including: Java, C++ Microsoft .NET, Ruby, HTML5/CSS3, AJAX, K/KDB, PHP under Windows/Linux, and Electronic Document Management/Reporting Systems.

Case Study: A global inter-broker dealer was running a multitude of disparate databases to support their 37 market offerings. Data aggregation and
reporting were time consuming and prone to errors. Westwater developed an application platform which included a business-rule based ETL and “Data Distribution” layer.Phase 1 of the project incorporated three of their key product lines. In addition,16 user interfaces were consolidated into one.

Case Study: A major broker dealer was investing a significant amount of time and resources to manually track ‘conflict disclosures’ required by FINRA and NYSE on their research reports. Compliance users and analysts were overwhelmed with the amount of frequently changing data that they were legally obligated to manage. Westwater developed a unified system to automate, monitor, and when required, manually adjust research disclosures from a centralized location

Our revenue generation practice helps clients explore growth strategies and implement new ideas to remain competitive in an often-changing market. We identify the highest-value opportunities to maximize product and customer profitability.

Business Strategy
By leveraging our industry insights and analytical capabilities, we assist our clients with:

• Market and competitive analyses
• Product and customer profitability
• Customer segmentation
• Evaluation of strategic growth options
• Strategy implementation
• BPO advisory

Case Study: A large broker-dealer was losing market share and competitive advantage after several years of sub-par business performance. Minimal investments in technology, high turnover, as well as aggressive competitive practices were emaciating the firm. Westwater developed a 3-year strategic plan to define the product, people,and technology requirements needed to revitalize the firm’s business.

Case Study: A major bank in the Asia Pacific region wanted to develop growth opportunities for its credit card division. Its local growth had stagnated and the bank was looking to exploit opportunities in international markets. Westwater analyzed the market potential for credit card introduction in 8 underserved Asian markets (countries) and provided the bank with a detailed entry strategy for two of the top markets.